MOSAÏQUE

Second efford from french band Arrakeen. Like their debut Patchwork they blend nicely some neoprog melodies to popular french music, making their sound quite unique, specially the vocals. Maiko has a nice voice, different from any other female singer I've had heard. She goes from a whisper to high notes so easily you have to listen to believe. She sings in french most of the time. Interestingly enough, the only song sung in english does not work as good as the ones written in their native language.

The musicians are great. I still think the change of guitar players did change a bit the overall sound. Sylvain Gouvernaire´s departure was a major blow, although the band still manage to hold things together and release a remarkable good album, even if not as powerful as their debut. The sound is a little heavier and a bit more experimental than Patchwork, which, to me at least, is just perfect. This one lacks a little in direction, if compared. Still I think this album as a brilliant work on its own.Too bad the band broke up after this CD: I can only wonder how big they could be if they had stayed together. Still, they left two fantastic albuns. If you like nice melodies, excellent songs, great musicanship and want to try something a little different, you should pick this one up.

Full-length ARRAKEEN album is a more mature and balanced work. It borders Prog-Metal in many aspects (I’d say “early MARILLION-inspired mid-tempo NIGHTWISH”), but Neo-Prog influence is obvious too. Vocals are very strong, the quality is top- notch (much better than LA TULIPE NOIRE, related band, has on its records), harmonies and melodies are excellent, guitarist sound like a mix between Steve Rothery and Yngwie Malmsteen, but sometimes I feel lack of emotions here. Though French is not my all-time favourite for singing (excuse me, but I had to say that), I appreciate their decision to sing in a native language. If you wonder how would sound a child of NIGHTWISH and MARILLION, get this one immediately. Recommended!

I managed to get my hands on both Arrakeen releases from the early nineties and I'm very happy about that because it was a long search. And I wouldn't have wanted to miss out on this experience. Of the long list of neobands I'm checking out this year Arrakeen has proved to be a must have . Mosaïque is the successor of their debut Patchwork and despite the fact their music is pretty accessible I had to play the disc quite a few times to get into the individual songs.

Star of the band is Maïko, an excellent female vocalist. I did a google search lately because I could hardly understand a woman with these qualities would do just two albums with this band and then nothing anymore. But I couldn't find anything really unless of course I didn't dig deep enough. Maïko is the dominant factor of Arrakeen and that's a big achievement since all members of the band are very capable on their instruments.

Also the songs are very worth while, there are hardly fillers on this album. On the other hand there are no real highlights either which means a very equable performance and it has the advantage you can play the album without skipping songs. If I do have to name two stand out tracks it's the title track and the longest on the album, Rages.

I hardly can believe this band quit after this album and I really regret this too. I believe they could have had a shining future, at least where their potential is concerned. Maybe they called it a day at their highlight, we'll never know. This album is recommended to those who like cristal clear female vocals, very capable musicians playing excellent songs. I don't really know who to compare them with. It's true neo prog no doubt but it's certainly not a clone of any band. Four stars easily for Mosaïque

Mildly Interesting Heavy Pop-Prog

Arrakeen was an early 90's French neo-prog band that boasted a very strong singer and some guitar hero flourishes. I was attracted by the strong reviews to their second album Mosaique on this site, and my initial reaction was that the band's sound was good but that the songwriting was not too memorable. After returning to the album that impression remains. Female lead singer Maiko mixes some Enya into the usual female-fronted heavy metal sound (admittedly before that sound was so common). Guitarist Cyril Archard has all the usual shredder moves including sweeps, legato runs, and some tasty clean chops. His leads are quite good, but his distorted rhythm tone is terrible. (The fuzzy timbre sounds like a cheap amp and distracts me throughout the entire disc. The keys are typical of late 80's / early 90's pomp, and really date the work as well. (They aren't frankly unpleasant, however.)

The issue for me is that the compositions are glorified pop rather than prog, and while pleasant, don't really challenge my ear in any way. The song "Sizygie" has some proggy rhythms and some keyboard flourishes, but most of the songs are much more straightforward. "Celebration" is a guitar showpiece which begins with a nice jazzy clean composition that ends with a hammer-on cadenza a la Joe Satriani's "Midnight." A distorted whammy-fest then comes in over a vocal-synth pad, but it's quickly over with little sense of risk. "White Moon Dreamer" is sung competently in English for a changeup.

I must admit I'm not a big fan of neo-prog, but I've certainly heard examples that held my attention. Mosaique is a little too typical, its production a bit too dated, and despite very talented players, fail to make a strong musical statement. I compare this to Magenta, which plays music in very much the same territory, and the difference is immediately obvious. Both the singer and guitarist in Arrakeen probably have better chops, but Magenta has something musical to say.

Pleasant enough, but with so much great music out there, this is really just for neo-prog collectors.

Arrakeen's first album (short enough to be more of an EP, really) was notable mainly for the band's competent neo-prog performance and a guest appearance from Steve Rothery. This time around, there's no famous guest star - and, sadly, not much in the way of advancement over their earlier sound. On the whole, in fact, the album finds Arrakeen practicing an anonymous, faceless sort of poppy neo-prog which distinguishes itself from the work of other groups only in that the vocals are sung in French. Neo-prog fanatics will find this to be an OK listen but for most other listeners there's far better albums to be spending your time and money on.